The Reading Pile

I keep books in the car, in my briefcase, by my bedside, at my office, by my home PC, and lug at least one around to family gatherings to snatch passages here and there. Despite this, I am still woefully behind on my reading.

Currently Reading (as of 27 December 2008)

William Zinsser’s On Writing Well (fantastic reading – I find it more engaging than Strunk and White)

Stephen King’s Just After Sunset (after a hiatus, reading King’s stories again is – well, I’ll let you know after I’ve finished)

Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (the story of Nobody, who is raised by ghosts and grows up in a graveyard; the sort of story I buy for my kids and read myself; Gaiman often makes me wish my imagination was this fertile)

Robert Schlesinger’s White House Ghosts (of US Presidents from FDR to George W Bush and their speechwriters – I am now on “W”)

David Sedaris’s When You Are Engulfed in Flames (it’s laugh out loud funny, am on the last couple of essays)

Nelson Mandela’s A Long Walk to Freedom (For inspiration)

John Pilger’s Freedom Next Time (how governments – particularly Western governments – arrogantly abuse and violate the rights of citizens)

Next on the List

• Zadie Smith’s The Autograph Man
• Jhumpa Lahiri’s An Unaccustomed Earth
• Mark Haddon’s A Spot of Bother
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude
• Khaled Hossaini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns
• Karen Armstrong’s The Battle for God

Recent, remembered reads (Bolded text means it was an especially good read)

• Clare Wigfall’s The Loudest Sound and Nothing (short stories that leave more questions than provide answers)
  
• Michael Gates Gill’s How Starbucks Saved My Life (if you like your coffee, and can stomach the Starbucks raves, this book can be inspirational and uplifting; my thoughts are here)
  
• Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader (a delightful homage to reading)
  
• Preeta Semarasan’s Evening is the Whole Day (her lush prose makes the ordinary sparkle – my thoughts on her book here)
  
• Stephen King’s On Writing (thoughts posted here)
  
• Tariq Ramadan’s In The Footsteps of the Prophet (reasoned, logical, inspiring lessons drawn from the life of Prophet Muhammad)
  
• Khaled Hossaini’s The Kite Runner (a beautiful story; thanks, Madam Snarky)
  
• Anne Fadiman’s At Large and At Small (an absolutely wonderful, immersive collection of essays; some anticipatory notes here)
  
• Jeffrey Deaver’s More Twisted (I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed the Lincoln Rhyme novels and Deaver’s rather-sick serial killers; this has whetted my appetite for Rhyme once more)
  
• Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors (magical, glorious, twisted; just the escape you need from the real world)
  
• Jeffrey Archer’s Cat O Nine Tales (It was like revisiting an old friend, but the stories, while clever, were a bit too tame, compared to Deaver)
  
• Paulo Coelho’s The Devil and Miss Prym (the best Coelho tale I’ve read, of losing and regaining faith, of temptation, of goodness in many guises)
  
• James Canton’s The Extreme Future (an intriguing treatise on how the world will be in the next twenty years. Parts are frightening (energy depletion for one) but others are exciting (nanotechnology, neuroscience) though a little hard to believe. Scenario planning distilled into ten megatrends that’s easily digestible. The future can be wonderful, if you are positioned right to take advantage of its waves)
  
• Paulo Coelho ’s The Zahir 
  Full of profound people on their mystical paths of self-discovery, this story is sometimes a pastiche of zen-like lessons. Nevertheless, there were some bits that resonated and – in their own peculiar way – echoed my own insights from recent experiences. I enjoyed this story more than The Alchemist, maybe because of its modern, more accessible setting. I like the characters, though they are too wise to be real at times, and found the ending too abrupt. This was a good, gentle tale, of love, self-discovery, and – Coelho’s trademark theme – following one’s own path.
  
• Karen Armstrong’s The Spiral Staircase (excellent!)
   
• Augusten Burrough’s Running with Scissors (amusing but horrifying – makes you feel grateful for the more mundane life you’ve had)
   
• Dianne Setterfeld’s The Thirteenth Tale (mentioned here)
   
• Dina Zaman’s I Am Muslim (wry, insightful, and bloody honest; if you’re a Malaysian Muslim, you will be able to relate..good book, too, for non-Muslim Malaysians and will dispel myths that all Muslims face the same problems regarding faith)
   
• Hari Kunzru’s Transmission
  A heart-pounding non-thriller. Notes here.
• Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking
  Review here.
  
• Mitch Albom’s For One More Day
  Touching, hopeful, sobering. Mini-review here.
  
• Frank McCourt’s Teacher Man 
  
• Zadie Smith’s On Beauty
  I thoroughly enjoyed both these books, in different ways. Zadie Smith’s made an impact beyond the pages of the book, but I wished she explored the theme on beauty more.
  
• Barbara DeMarco Barrett’s Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Within
  This is a very easy read, and a good book to dip into for motivation to write.
  
• Jeremy Clarkson’s The World According to Clarkson
  A fellow bookhound thought I was too serious and lent me this book. It did make me laugh though Mr Clarkson can be too clever at times. I recommend this if you like wry humour and exaggerated storylines. I especially loved the stories of him planning a birthday party for his wife, and the anecdotes on suburban commuting. Who would have thought a guy with his head wrapped around motor vehicles can write about the real world?
  
• Mark McCormack’s Never Wrestle With A Pig
  This won’t teach you much that you don’t already know but Mr McCormack’s breezy style and his liberal doses of anecdotes from his experience as a PR sports agent are very entertaining. If you need shots of corporate common sense, this is a very easy to read volume (and it’s obviously targeted at busy executives).
  
• David Byck’s It’s a Long Way to the Floor
  An entertaining debut by writer/yoga enthusiast David Bycke (who resides in Malaysia), detailing the impact of yoga on his life and thinking. He made me want to start yoga!
   
• OP Kharbanda and EA Stallworthy’s Company Rescue
  A 1987 edition, the management techniques that worked then to rescue and turn around ailing companies are out of date; still, noteworthy are the principles outlined and the CEOs highlighted in each case study

On The Shelf

Still To Read

• Carlos Fuentes’s This I Believe
• Haruki Murakami’s Dance Dance Dance and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (he’s a little depressing, this fellow)
• Alice Sebold’s The Almost Moon (she’s killed her Mom and I couldn’t go on)
• Tash Aw’s The Harmony Silk Factory (I got halfway, put down the book, and now do not feel compelled to continue – help!)
• Marisha Pessl’s Special Topics in Calamity Physics (It got tiring, after awhile, the constant references to textbooks)
• Gavin Menzies’s 1434 (on long-loan from a fellow bookhound; many thanks)
• Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran
• John Gardner’s On Becoming a Novelist (very old-school)
• Judith Barrington’s Writing the Memoir (hmmmm…..)
• Tim Harford’s The Undercover Economist
• Nicholson Baker’s Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper (about the importance and necessity of preserving original paper copies of documents, newspapers, magazines, and journals – in other words, digitalisation should complement, not replace)
• John Perkin’s Confessions of An Economic Hit Man

Selected Reference Books

Robert Wright’s Non-Zero: The Logic of Human Destiny (I’m dipping into this again, picking out interesting chapters and passages)

David Allen’s Getting Things Done

Michael Allison, Jude Kaye’s Strategic Planning for Non-Profit Organisations

Scott Berkun’s The Art of Project Management

MAS Abdel Haleem’s The Quran

Morgan D. Jones’s The Thinker’s Toolkit

Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything

Marcus Buckingham’s The One Thing You Need To Know

Gretchen Rubin’s Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill

Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat

Samuel P. Huntington’s The Clash of Civilisations

Albert Hourani’s A History of the Arab Peoples

Muhammad Husayn Haykal’s Life of Muhammad

Bertrand Russel’s A History of Western Philosophy

Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World

Bridget Welsh’s Reflections: The Mahathir Years